Govt okays broadband link for rural areas
Optical fibre network to be extended to panchayats
The Union Cabinet has approved a scheme for creating a national optical fibre network (NOFN) for providing Broadband connectivity to panchayats.
The objective of the scheme is to extend the existing optical fibre network, which is available up to district / block headquarters’ level, to the gram panchayat level initially by utilising the universal service obligation fund.
The cost of this initial phase of the NOFN scheme is likely to be around Rs 20,000 crore. An equivalent amount of investment will be made by the private sector to complement the NOFN infrastructure while providing services to individual users. The scheme is also expected to generate employment opportunities.
According to a study conducted by the World Bank, with every 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration, there will an increase in GDP growth by 1.4 per cent.
This is expected to check the migration of rural population to urban areas.
Also, the NOFN will facilitate implementation of various e-governance initiatives such as e-health, e-banking, and e-education, among others, thereby facilitating inclusive growth. It will also provide high bandwidth connectivity for electronic delivery of services to citizens.
The proposed NOFN will enable effective and faster implementation of various mission mode e-governance projects amounting to approximately Rs 50,000 crore initiated by the Department of Information Technology.
